The Life and Times of an anarcho-syndicalist group of Bears, formerly of Manhattan, now living in Canadia.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Jim asked to make this post

I am a kitchen God!!!

Well, not really, but I was very pleased with what I made for Jenn's birthday last night.

Jenn, Leone and I formally celebrated Jenn's birthday on Saturday. I made filet mignon with a red wine and mushroom reduction sauce (very yummy if I do say so myself) and roasted asparagus. Then we exchanged presents, and had cake and ice cream for dessert.

Well, between Jenn, Leone and me, Saturday's leftovers were all finished up by yesterday, Jenn's actual birthday. I took her out to lunch. But unfortunately she had to teach last night, so she wasn't getting home until late. She had dinner out, between work and teaching, so I hadn't planned on making dinner. But I realized I didn't have a treat for her on her actual birthday when she finally got home.

And the only thing in easy walking distance was the 7-11 at a nearby gas station!

However, I was inspired by the fact that an episode of Top Chef had a challenge where all the chefs had to make dishes with things purchased at a gas station market. So I wanted to try my hand at what I could do with stuff from the 7-11.

Well, we had a mango in the house, which seemed like a good starting point. So I went over and browsed the 7-11: aisles of chips, cookies, sodas. Not very inspiring stuff. Then I found Hagen Daaz Mayan Chocolate Ice Cream, and two-bite coconut macaroons.

When I got home, I finely chopped the macaroons, mixed the crumbs with with 1/2 cup flour, two tbsp melted butter and a touch of cold water. I had to play with the amounts a bit to get the dough texture I was looking for since I didn't have a recipe, but suddenly I had that moment: Good God, this might actually work! I used a muffin pan to form the dough into little cups (putting water in the sections I wasn't using so the pan wouldn't warp), and baked for 12 minutes at 350.

When Jenn got home, I put a circle of diced mango around the edge of a small plate, put the coconut pastry cup in the center, and filled the cup with the chocolate ice cream. If I do say so myself, it did not look nor taste like a 7-11 dessert!

Anyway, I've been inordinately pleased with myself ever since, so I wanted to share. My thanks to the Bears for letting me post on their blog.